Dear Mom

Me and Eevee made it fine to Viridian City, we did get kind of lost on the way but one of the older trainers pointed us in the right direction and even gave me some spares potions to keep Vee topped up.

We had our first real battle aswell against a kid with a Pidgey and we WON! Eevee was amazing, she listen to all my calls and she even learnt Quick Attack in a pinch to keep up with his Pidgey

Tom Callum and Joe have sped on ahead, Joe's already got a badge but me and Eevee have decided to not rush things and take things one step at a time. The plan is to try and find a second member of the team around Viridian. When we all left Pallet Town we made a group pact to not catch the same Pokemon as each other. Callum caught a Pidgey which was a little bit of a bummer as that was Grandads first catch. Callum's got a Pidgey and a Pikachu, Toms caught a Bellsprout and Joe got a Mankey. I've got to try find a Pokemon to help with a battle against Brock. Callum and Tom will be fine with Bulbasaur and Squirtle and Joe's got Mankey to help but I'm sure Me and Eevee will find a way to win. Anyway I will call you when I get to Pewter City

I will ring Nan and Grandad too when I get there, I want to show off my new team member

Speak soon

Ryan

I tear the page from the back of my notepad and stuff the letter into the brown envelope. I lick the seal and push it against itself. I walk over to the mail carrier man and hand him the envelope which he places in the hemp bag attached to his Fearow.

"Thank you sir" I say to him nodding my head at him

He smiles back and his Fearow calls out in appreciation.

I smile back before walking to the Pokecenter main reception, the kind faced Nurse Joy stands scribbling some things down on some paper to hand, her Chansey sways joyfully back and forth next to her checking the computer screen

"Excuse Nurse Joy, is Eevee okay to go now?" I timidly question

"Oh hello again sweetheart, yes she in perfect condition" She says before turning to grab the Pokeball on the console behind

She picks up the small round ball, turns and hands it me with a smile

"Thank you" I stammer out

I click the release button and the small brown Pokemon pops out onto the floor

"Veeeee" She calls out as she shakes the stiffness away

She plops down on her backside and scratches at her ear with her hind leg

"Hey Vee, feeling better?" I question kneeling downhearted

She hops on the spot and smiles happily up at me

"Vee! Vee!" She cries out jumping up and down on the spot

I smile back at her and stroke her back and tail. I hold my arm out and let her climb up to my shoulders

"Thank you Nurse Joy" I say standing up and smiling at her

"Have you taken your trainer profile picture yet?" She questions

"Oh not yet, I thought it had to be taken once I got to Pewter Gym?" I question back

"No you can take it at any Pokecenter, I can take it now if you like?" She says happily

"Uh sure" I respond

I brush my black mop of hair to one side, I try to pull a smile as Nurse Joy arranges the camera attached to the computer. I had always been really bad at taking photos, all my school photos had been taken multiple times as my eyes would be shut or I look like someone was holding a gun to my head. I bet Callum, Tom and Joes profiles looked great was all I could think as Nurse Joy called out

"Ready?" She asks with a warm smile

I nod and try to pull the best non fake smile I could. Just as Nurse Joy takes it Eevee pushes herself into neck and coos out happily

Snap!

"Oh that was a great one!" she calls out turning the monitor to me

It shows myself with a warm big grin on my face causing my bright blue eyes to pop out of the picture and Eevee happily nuzzling into my neck

"I'm normally meant exclude ones with Pokemon in the pictures but that one is just too good, are you happy to use that one?" Shes asks

I nod happily as I hand over my Dexnav

She types away at her keyboard as the device scans my Dexnav

"Okay all done, you are now officially registered in the Junior Kanto Pokemon Competition, good luck on getting your eight badges" She say handing it back to me

"Thank you, oh uh Nurse Joy I was looking to try and catch a new Pokemon, I need something to help against Brock as Eevee at a disadvantage, do you have any ideas on where I might find something?" I ask

"Hmm well, Mankey make there nests locally so there plenty of them around and you can get lots of Grass types like Bellsprout down on route 1" She responds

"Oh I see" I say downtrodden knowing I agreed not to catch the same Pokemon as my friends

Sensing my disappointment see continues

"You can also get Nidoran's on Route 22, they learn Double Kick with a bit of training"

I feel my eyes light up

"That's great, thanks Nurse Joy" I say turning on my heels and sprinting out of the centre

"Okay Vee, checking the Dexnav there are a few Nidoran's that have been roaming around recently" I say scanning the area

"Veeee" She cries calling out into the long grass trying to beckon to anything in there

"I'm not sure it works like that" I say stroking her with a chuckle

"SPEAR!" comes a cry as a shadow darts past us knocking Eevee from my shoulders

"Eevee are you okay?"

"EV!" She shouts moving into a battle stance

Landing before us is a Spearow, it has a menacing glint in its eye as it calls out in anger

"Okay, use Tackle!"

Eevee darts forward in a flash and slams it the bird Pokemon sending it flying back, it flaps it wings to regain composure before darting in with a Peck attack

"Use your tail to block it!"

Eevee puffs its tail hair into a bloom and cushions the attack

"Double Kick"

Eevee using its hind legs slams its right and then left feet it the incapacitated Spearow, it rolls along the floor a short way and tries to pull itself back to its feet groggily

"Okay, Pokeball go!"

It connects with Spearow forehead and plops down into the grass, I stare at it and it feels like an age as it rolls back and forth three times, just as I think its caught there a burst of white light, Spearow re emerges and immediately flees off it the distance towards Pallet Town. I slump down to my back side as Eevee walks up to me looking sad.

"Hey its okay, you did great plus Double Kick is stronger than ever now, we don't need anyone else to beat Brock if we keep working at that" I say happily

I pull out my dexnav and look at my friends trainer profiles, all three had now beaten Brock and had logged that they had made it to the Pokecenter outside of Mt Moon, my gut twinged in disappointed envy. I wanted my friends to do well on there journey and make it to the championships so we could battle against each other but being this far behind already was disheartening. Tom had now added a Spearow to his team so even if I had caught Spearow I wouldn't have used it. Joe still only had Charmander and Mankey while Callum had added a Geodude to his party. I sigh in exasperation, I wanted to get Eevee up to level 12 so it would begin to learn Double Kick ready for Brock but perhaps grinding on Routes 1 and 2 had not been a good idea. I pat Eevee head who had know plopped into my lap to rest

"NIDO!"

Both of us look up to the grass ahead of us and out it comes tearing a small Nidoran male being pursued by a Ekans. The Nidoran dutifully ducks and dodges out of the way of snake Pokemon who makes long and grasping lunges. It looks like the Ekans had spotted the younger Nidoran and is trying to pick it off as prey or Nidoran has wandered into the Ekans territory and its chasing it off. The Ekans curls out it long tail and grips the Nidoran within its grasp and begins to squeeze as it cries out as it struggles

"Hey leave it alone" I shout grasping some dirt and throwing it into Ekans face

The Ekans fumbles around at being blinded that it releases the Nidoran who runs behind myself and Eevee

"Go! Run! Me and Eevee will deal with this" I say looking down at Nidoran

"Ni" It nods and runs off towards Viridian

"Eevee Quick Attack!"

Eevee darts in lightning quick and slams into Ekans head which has now shaken enough dirt off to be able to see. It reels back in pain before trying a Bite attack which Eevee just manages to evade

"Double Kick"

Eevee turns as it lands and slam the Ekans midrift with two strong kicks but have little to no effect. Fighting type attacks barley hurt Poison types I think to myself why would I make that call. In the small time of questioning myself Eevee had been caught in Ekans wrap attack like Nidoran had before

"Eevee, use your tail"

Eevee tries to floof up its tail again to create space to slip through but Ekans just grips in tighter

"Eevee" I say under my breath frozen in place as Eevee get squeezed even harder

"NIDO!"

Just then Nidoran comes flying in from behind and lands a critical Horn Attack directly on Ekans head throwing the snake Pokemon backwards, Eevee is released and splutter and coughs regaining its breath. The Ekans regains composure hissing then skulking away quickly

"Eevee are you okay?" I shout running up to her and picking her up

"Vee Vee" She calls out tiredly still slightly dazed

"I'm sorry Vee, we should have ran to with Nidoran. I should have known that Double Kick was a bad choice too" I say slightly welling up

She jumps to my shoulder and nuzzles into my neck again in forgiveness, I stroke her head and smile before turning to Nidoran, I crouch down on my knees to get more at height with him

"You really saved us there Nidoran so thank you" I say smiling at the small purple Pokemon

"Nido Nido" It calls back

"Are you thanking Eevee for saving you the first time?" I questioning

It nods in affirmation

Eevee jumps down and call out happily

"So Nidoran, we were out here looking for a Nidoran to join our team, we in the Junior Kanto Championship"

"Nido!" It calls out with it eyes lit up brightly

"Would you maybe want to join us?" I say holding out another Pokeball to it

It turns to Eevee who calls out happily in encouragement

"I'm just a beginner at the moment but with you and Eevee with me I know we can become an unstoppable team" I say trying to pitch the idea

It looks down in one final thought of contemplation before looking up and tapping the ball with it horn. In a flash of red light Nidoran disappears into the ball, it only shakes once this time before sparkling with stars to confirm its caught. I smile gleefully down at the ball as I jump up in excitement

"Welcome to the team Nidoran" I say down to the ball with a smile as Eevee cries out happily

I scan the ball to get his stats and moves, Nidoran is level 12 so on par with Eevee

"Lets get you both to the Poke centre"

"Thank you for waiting, both your Eevee and Nidoran are fully healed and ready to go"

"Thank you Nurse Joy" I say taking the two balls from the tray

"Will you being staying here again tonight Ryan?" She questioning

I look up to the clock on the wall that makes it midday, it would take around 4 hours to get through Viridian Forest on a good day so the wise thing to do would be to stop here today and venture tomorrow

"No thanks, we're going to try and make it to Pewter city tonight" I say with a smile

She smiles back at me like a proud parent

"Good luck! We'll see you back here when you going for your 8th badge" She calls out happily as her partner Chansey coos out in support

"Thank you, see you soon" I shout charging out of the centre for the second time today

"Jeez I am beat I don't know about you guys" I say falling back onto the bed

We had made it to Pewter City Pokecenter at around 6pm in the end, along the way we had battled a few bug catchers and Nidoran Peck attack had come in really handy for them. Both him and Eevee had gone up two levels both reaching level 14 now. Eevee had curled up on my pillow and was sound asleep while Nidoran was nibbling at a bowl of berries placed on the end of the bed for him

"You were great in the forest Nidoran" I say stroking his back as he continues to feast

I look to Eevee to congratulate her too but she so sound sleep I don't want to wake her so I smile and stroke her back. I look down to my Nav to check the other guys progress. None had moved from Mt Moons Poke centre, I'm assuming they were all looking to make there move through the next day. If I got an early enough booking to battle Brock and moved fast I might be able to catch up with all three of them in Cerulean City possibly. I look to the gym booking challenge and Brock was currently empty so I booked the earliest slot of 7AM, if I won early I would be able to make it through Mt Moon pass by 4pm and get to Cerulean Pokecenter, There s no way the guys could beat Misty and be out of the city by then.

"Okay, time for sleep Nido"

I turn to see Nidoran flat out asleep on the end of the bed and smile to myself, I carefully pick up the small Pokemon and place it next to Eevee on the vacant pillow next to mine, I look down at my small team and snap a quick picture that I will print off and send to Mom in my next letter. I pop my Dexnav down on the side cabinet and switch the lamp off getting an early night ready for the battle with Brock tomorrow